


Of Mummies and Hearses

by ismellitblue



Series: Monsters Inc [2]
Category: Doom Patrol, Doom Patrol (Comics), Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Bamf Keeg, Bamf Larry, Bamf Rita, Burns, Captivity, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Escape, Gen, Hospital, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Niles Caulder underestimated the situation, Other, Radioactive fly boy, Recovery, Slice of Life, Torture, burn scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 06:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19436224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: Niles Caulder loses experiment number two-turns out Larry and his pal don't like the thought of being lab rats.





	Of Mummies and Hearses

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Doom Patrol.

When Larry’s life falls apart, it goes down in one fell swoop.

He remembers seeing the brilliant blue cloud up in the stars, and he definitely remembers the liquid fire that burned through his veins when the thing flew directly into him.Then he’d woken up on the field, pieces of the X-15 all around him.

He should’ve run, should have realized that there was no way he could have survived such a fall naturally, but then he’d seen John coming and he’d decided to stay…that was a mistake.

He’ll never be able to get over the sight of the dead and dying laying around him.People with lives, friends ,families, all of them dead-because of him.

When Cheryl leaves“We deserve better Larry,”He can’t even cry, _his tear ducts are sealed shut_.

A while later, John comes to visit and just hearing his voice makes Larry want to give into its soft timber and forget all his problems.But he watches as current the same shade of blue as the cloud he saw, runs over his arms, and he knows it can never be.

Larry’s always been good at pinpointing weakness and exploiting it.It’s how he’s survived so many years without ever getting caught.

When he lays into John he doesn’t hold back, he eviscerates him.He knows when the other leaves that he won’t be coming back.The lightning dancing over Larry’s body curls around his burnt limbs,almost as though it’s sentient and trying to offer comfort.

By that point he’s so desperate for touch, for a warm hug, that he doesn’t shy away from the anomaly. He lets his head fall onto the pillow and just basks in the feel of the energy settling deep in his bones.

***

The hospital staff don’t treat Larry like a human being, they don’t treat him like anything at all, after all, accident or not, he’s the man(if he can even be called that anymore) who killed their friends.

He tries his best to ignore them, but as the days pass it becomes impossible to do so.Something in the air has shifted,like the air right before a big storm, and Larry knows without a doubt something bad is about to happen to him.They begin locking the door, despite him never having tried to leave and Larry knows his time is almost up.

***

When the storm he’s been sensing hits, Larry is still unprepared.He wakes up to the ceiling moving, and he realizes he’s no longer in his hospital room.A man with a bright smile and lifeless eyes smiles down at him as they move.The stranger introduces himself as Agent Forsythe, his dead eyes coming alive with something dark and nasty as he regards Larry.

The little tube they have him in is constricting, and the more he struggles the smaller it seems to get.Forsythe continues to smile, his grin wide,with all his teeth on display.He talks over Larry, calmly reasoning with his desperate pleas, never letting his polite demeanor fade…that scares Larry more than anything.

He begins begging, not caring how desperate he sounds.He’s a human being, not a test subject,they can’t do this.His balled up fists meet the glass repeatedly as he screams, and Forsythe just smiles down at him,like one would smile at a petulant child.

“ _Please,please,please_...”A white gas fills his little enclosure, and spots begin to fill Larry’s vision.His body turns to lead, and he can barely keep his eyes open(not that it would be of any use with the gas obstructing his view).

With the last bit of his strength, he brings a hand to his chest.

He’s not alone.

Larry knows this with a certainty that he can’t even put into words.The cloud he ran into had cosmic radiation, that’s what he was told, that’s all it should be, but deep in his gut Larry knows that’s not the whole story.With the last of his strength he whispers a plea,this one isn’t meant for Forsythe.

“ _Help_ …”He clutches at his chest with all his might, not really knowing what he’s waiting for ,but knowing it will come from there.The last thing he sees before his world goes dark is brilliant blue light spilling from his chest.

***

Rita Farr’s suicide had been a devastating blow for Niles.He’d been expecting to study her for decades to come, but the selfish woman had taken the easy way out-ending herself.After all the things she’d done, Niles had ruled her as too much of a coward to commit suicide, but she’d proven him wrong.

Larry Trainor was supposed to make up for Rita’s failure, but somehow the second subject in the Immortus project has disappointed him as well.

“What do you mean he escaped?That container was made specifically to hold him,”From his hospital bed Forsythe tries to sit up, but his broken ribs protest.

“Yes, it was made to hold Captain Trainor- _not his passenger,”_ The statement has Niles wheeling himself closer, his interest piqued.

“Passenger?”He prompts, the venom leaving his tone, as he adopts his soothing grandfatherly voice-not that Forsythe needs any encouragement to talk, the man’s eyes are alight with excitement.

“It was _beautiful,”_ Tears well up in his eyes but he doesn’t seem to notice.

“A humanoid phantom, when it broke free of Captain Trainor’s body the hairs on my body stood up- _such power_ ,”

“It tore through the other agents-some of them it touched,snapping their necks, and others it phased right through-I think it took out their souls”

“When it drilled my body through the walls I managed to touch it,”He looked down at his bandaged hand(the doctors said he’d never be able to use it again), but Forsythe didn’t seem to mind the loss.

“It glared at me,and when it growled in my face I could taste the ozone”

“We need to find Captain Trainor, Niles, that creature is phenomenal, we could do great things, _great things_ …”

Niles leaves Forsythe alone after that,trying to think.The creature had gone back for Larry’s meager belongings, before carrying him-containment tube and all, away-how did a glowing blue ghost(if Forsythe was to be believed), fly out with coffin sized metal container, and not a single person saw a thing.

Is it possible it has psychic abilities?

The thought chills Niles to the core.They’ve lost not only a radioactive pilot, but also an unknown,unidentified being with godlike powers… _this is not good._ He bites into his fifth chocolate in an hour,but it does absolutely nothing to solve the problem,let alone help him with the head ache he can feel coming on.

***

For the longest time,Keeg struggles to pull themself together,wherever they are, it’s loud and bright, feelings assault them from all sides.Fear,shock, traces of joy, but ,most of all _sorrow_.They try to regroup,to pull themselves together,but everything is just so _loud_.

Then a voice breaks through everything,

It’s soft, a defeated sounding thing, but it cuts through all the noise…

“ _Help_ …”All of Keeg’s impulses align at the sound of the voice, and all of a sudden,they aren’t alone anymore.A new consciousness moves along side them, small and frail,not even trying to defend itself from the attacks.

“ ** _Larry,”_** They pluck the man’s consciousness out of the emotional storm,pulling them into their safe space and cocooning him in sweet dreams.When they arise from the body, it is to the sight of a man.His face is that of times long past, and yet Keeg can feel that their encounters with him are yet to be.None of that matters though, be it past or future, the man only has one designation in Keeg’s mind.

_Enemy._

***

Keeg leaves bodies in his wake,whether they are alive or not does not matter,what matters is Larry.They spirit him away, container and all,pausing only to retrieve a bag from what had been Larry’s room, memories mean nothing to them,but they matter to Larry, so they make sure to keep the bag safe.

The mind they connect to is the same yet different, but they still pick it out from amongst the hive and they move towards it,carrying Larry-container and all high above the clouds-out of sight.

Rita Farr waits in the edges of the human settlement,she startles at the sight of them, but Keeg sees recognition flash in her eyes and her mind stops feeling like a blackhole,bits of starlight shining through.

They push Larry into the back of the car,throwing his bag after him.

Rita stands and watches, not saying a word, it’s only when Keeg begins to feel themself coming apart at the seams that she speaks.

“I’ve got him,rest now,”Keeg sinks back into the body, not questioning why he trusts her,they’ve never met before,but they’ve known her a long time-that much they are sure of.They take Larry out of the cocoon, holding him close as they carry him to the surface,and once they are sure he will not sink,they retreat into the safe space.

The emotions there don’t burn as they did before-there’s a warmth to them now- _safety._

***

Larry awakens to a familiar face watching.For a moment he’s confused, Rita Farr was dead.But then the face of the woman on the other side of the glass falls.Her cheek drooping until it ran along the glass,and Larry’s confusion clears.

It’s not just Rita Farr, it’s Rita- _his Rita_.

“ _Rita_ ,”His voice cracks, his burnt hands reaching for the glass,

Her tears fall against the glass.

“Larry,”She seems shocked to know his name,but the moment doesn’t last, and she leans down to press a kiss to the glass, lipsticks smearing.

***

They leave the town without incident, and it’s only when they reach their destination that Larry realizes why.

A hearse.

She’d driven him out in a hearse-simple but brilliant, no one really cared for the dead.

She gets his rooms ready,lining them with thick metal without even having to ask.Next come the bandages, both of them know what to do.And he watches from his little container as she soaks them in metal.When she’s done she wheels him into his room and leaves him to get changed.

***

He’s still sore,and some body parts are harder to move than others,but when Larry steps out of his room, and finds Rita waiting, wringing her hands nervously-he instantly feels much better.

She pulls him into a hug,the gentlest one he’s ever received. He buries his face in her neck as her tears dampen his bandages.

“I’ve missed you,”They both say at the same time, and they pull away laughing.

***

“Did you thank your friend?”She asks as they settle into the living room,

Revulsion builts up in him, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes,and Larry raises a shaky hand to his chest-knowing instinctively what she’s talking about.

“Hello?”His chest lights up and Larry feels something gently touch his mind.He draws back his mind shuttering,waiting for the blows to come,to be forced into the darkness,but none of that happens. He remains conscious, and his head doesn’t feel like it’s being torn apart.

Without Forsythe breathing down his neck,and with Niles Caulder being an abstract concept mentioned by Rita, Larry introduces himself to his passenger for the first time.

There’s no hate or disgust in him as the glow in his chest takes the form of a hand.He doesn’t hesitate to take it in his bandaged ones, and a startled laugh escapes his as electricity moves over his bandages.

“Hey pal, nice to meet you,”Beside him Rita sips her drink and they watch the sunset.Someday soon they’ll have to talk things through, ask questions about how they already know so much about each other, and why they still feel they’re incomplete despite being together.

But in that moment Larry just pauses, enjoying the present for the first time since he was a boy.

**Author's Note:**

> Next up Jane...I'm kinda excited for the challenge.


End file.
